How to Setup Server Side Ad Insertion with UpLynk (Overview)

What is Server Side Ad Insertion (SSAI)?

As you may know, Players request content videos and ads on the browser level from different locations. Content videos are brought in from our content delivery network (CDN), while ads are provided from third party ad servers. As these requests are on the browser level, ad responses can be dismissed using ad blocking technology, preventing you from monetizing your content videos.

To overcome this issue, Server Side Ad Insertion was introduced allowing you to stitch ads directly into your videos from our server side. This results in a single request and response that comes directly from our CDN, bypassing any ad blockers on the viewer's browser.

Requirements

Server Side Ad Insertion requires the following:

A Video encoded by UpLynk - All videos in the O4P Portal.

Player set to enable SSAI - An SSAI activation setting in the Player Wizard.

Player SSAI Macros - The Player must pass several SSAI Macros to run ads.

Limitations

Currently SSAI only uses Ad Servers that are defined in the UpLynk CMS.